Post setter and puller



April 24, 1945.

P. A. BEZZERIDES POST SETTER AND FULLER.

Filed April 3, 1944 4 Paul flfiezzeridas Patented Apr. 24, 1945 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE f 2,374,406 v I ros'r SETTER AND FULLER Paul A. Bezzerides, Orosi, Calif. 7

Application April 3, 1944, Serial No. 529,371

2 Claims. (Cl. 294-16) This invention is directed to, and it is an object to provide, a device adapted to facilitate the setting or removal of posts in the ground, and while adaptable to many uses the device is especially for use with posts as used on farms to support crops, as for example bean poles and the like.

Another object of the invention is to provide a post setter and puller, as above, which includes a pair of handles projecting from opposite sides for manipulation by separate workmen, and a post engaging clamp formed in connection with and operated by said handles; said clamp being operative when the device is in one position to frictionally engage a post and resist relative downward movement of the device, and when the device is inverted to frictionally engage the post and resist relative upward movement.

A further object of the invention is to provide a post setter and puller which comprises a pair of elongated handles disposed in spaced, end to end alinement, facing jaws fixed on the adjacent ends of said handles, and means pivoting said handles together for relative vertical swinging movement without obstructing the post receiving space between the jaws; one jaw being disposed to progressively approach the other jaw in post clamping relationship upon said relative swinging of the jaws in a given direction.

A further object of the invention is to produce a simple and inexpensive device, and yet one which will be exceedingly effective for the purpose for which it is designed.

These objects I accomplish by means of such structure and relative arrangement of parts as will fully appear by a perusal of the following specification and claims.

In the drawing similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several views:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the device clampingly engaged in setting relationship with a post.

Figure 2 is an elevation of the device in similar relation to the post but with the movable jaw clear of the latter.

Figure 3 is an elevation of the device as clampingly engaged with a post in pulling relation to the latter.

Referring now more particularly to e characters of reference on the drawing, the device comprises a pair of elongated handles I and 2, preferably formed of channel iron and fitted, at their outer end portions, with wooden inserts or fillers 3 which project laterally from said channels, and

being rounded on their projecting side whereby to form hand grips.

The handles l and 2 are disposed in longitudinal alinement with their adjacent ends in spaced relation; a back bar 4 being disposed in laterally offset relation to and abutting in face to face relation with the sides of handles l and 2 at adjacent end portions of the latter. The handle I is fixed to the back bar 4, whereas the handle 2 is pivoted to said back bar by a pivot bolt 5; such pivot bolt being disposed adjacent but short of the inner end of said handle 2. The handle 2 and the back bar 4 lap each other to a substantial extent longitudinally and have flat engaged vertical surfaces whereby to prevent sideplay between said handle and back bar. Additionally, the pivot bolt 5 is disposed substantially centrally between the ends of said flat engaged vertical faces so as to further assure of lateral stability of the parts.

At its inner ends the handles l and 2 are provided with fixed elongated jaws 6 and l which depend from said handles when the device is disposed in post setting relationship, as shown in Fig. 2. Said jaws 6 and 1 are formed of bar stock, preferably rectangular in cross section, and each jaw is reinforced by means 'of a web 8.

The jaw 6 is mounted so that its working face 9 is disposed at right angles to the corresponding handle I. The jaw 1 is disposed, when the handle 2 is in alinement with the handle I, in converging relation to the jaw 6, and the working face of said jaw 1 adjacent the outer end is rounded or curved, as at I0, in a direction away from said jaw 6. It will thus be seen that when the handles l and 2 are swung from an angled position, as shown in Fig. 2, to a position in end to end alinement the rounded portion In of the working face of jaw I progressively approaches the jaw 6. The distance between said portion ll] of the workin face of jaw 1 and the working face 9 f jaw 6,

when the handles are in end to end alinement, is slightly less than the width of a post P with which the device is adapted to engage. I

When used to set a post, separate workers grasp the handles l and 2 and the device is manipulated as follows:

The handle 2 is swung upwardly to a certain extent, and the post P is then disposed between jaws 6 and l, as shown in Fig. 2; the jaw B abutting in face to face relation with one side of the post. Thereafter the handle 2 is lowered until the rounded portion Ill of its working face frictionally engages with the other side of the post, as shown in Fig. l, clamping the same between the jaws.

Thereafter the workmen place their weight on the handles l and 2, which forces the post P into the ground; such application of weight to the device assuring a positive frictional or clamping engagement of the post between the jaws.

When used as a post puller, the device is inverted, as shown in Fig. 3, and the operation as above described is reversed, i. e. instead of applying their weight to the handles l and 2, the workmen pull upwardly on said handles, lifting the post from the ground.

From the foregoing description it will be readily seen that I have produced such a devic as substantially fulfills the objects of the invention, as set forth herein.

While this specification sets forth in detail the present and preferred construction of the device, still in practice such deviations from such detail may be resorted to as do not form a departure from the spirit of the invention, as defined by the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and useful and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A post setting and pulling device comprising a back bar having a, flat front face lying continuously in the same plane, a pair of handle members, each handle member having a fiat back face lying continuously in the same plane, such back faces of the handle lying in face to face contact-with the flat front face of the back bar, at least one of such handles being pivotally mounted on the back bar, the inner ends of the handles being spaced apart, and cooperating post engaging jaws on such spaced inner ends of the handles and which jaws are adapted to engage a post in progressively clamping relation upon swinging of the handles from a relatively angled position to an alined position.

2. A device as in claim 1 in which the pivoted handle has its pivot located at a point substantially midway of that portion of the back bar with which it is in face to face contact.

' PAUL A. BEZZERIDES. 

